Of Capes As Red As Blood, Of Eyes As Clear As Night
by A Trashbag Writes
Summary: Ruby leaves. Mulan forgets. And then, they meet each other.


_Hope you enjoy reading!  
One last tribute to the ship that could have sailed, but got burned to the ground instead because I don't know..._

* * *

I. Honor

* * *

The word used to be her prayer; a whispered mantra on her lips- a reminder, a lifeline, a plea, whenever her battles suddenly took a turn for the worse and she needed some reminder of why it was that she needed to fight so hard in the first place.

Up until now, it had served her well.

For honor,  
she'd saved her land.  
For honor,  
she'd helped Emma and Mary get back home.  
For honor,  
she'd saved Philip and brought him back to the woman _she_ loved, pushing her feelings down, down, down, smothering them in secret and hoping that would be enough for them to eventually flicker out there in the dark and die.

But then, she'd met Neal and everything had changed.

Because somewhere in the time she'd spent at Neal's side, she'd gotten lost in tempting words of encouragement; selfish thoughts of 'you deserve to be happy too', and in distant memories of golden hair and bright, wide eyes and she'd whispered 'honor' to herself again for the courage to finally face up to who, to _what_ , she had always been so she could just say the words and let the woman she loves know it.  
Because that is honor too.

But then, she's actually _there-_ pacing at the entrance, losing her nerve, and she's just about to pull back and decide it isn't worth it after all.  
That is, until _she_ turns from the bed of flowers she's been watering (beautiful, just like her), and Aurora spots her across the way and, oh...

Mulan's insides can't help but fill with sunlight under that familiar smile and suddenly, nothing else matters but that.

She crosses the bridge towards bright blue eyes and rosy cheeks and hands so warm and her heart lifts and she lets that hope guide her. But then, she actually gets there and-

"Philip and I are expecting a baby."

The world drops out from beneath her feet.  
And there, with it, goes all of that hope. Because loving someone may be honorable, but tearing apart a family by doing so isn't.

Funny, she'd never considered how badly the word she'd lauded to both enemy and ally alike might also turn on her one day.  
Funny she'd never considered how badly it might sting.

Still, it's all she has left when everything comes crashing down around her.

And so, for the sake of honor, she says goodbye, walks away, doesn't admit a word.  
For the sake of honor, she harbors the feelings safe in her heart and lets the pain poison her until eventually, the time comes when she can't say the word without a bitter sneer and a derisive laugh.

This was never how it was meant to be.

But what does it matter? Honor betrayed her.  
Left words all stopped up in her throat and turned her from fighter to coward.

And now, things will never be the same...

How can they be, when she can trust neither her own heart nor head to make the choices that matter?

And that's how, an eternity of endless, blurry nightmare days later, Mulan finally winds up dumping that honor at the doorstep, and she's selling her legendary sword arm to follow the bidding of the heart and the head of the highest paying buyer instead.

* * *

II. Home

* * *

She isn't one of them.  
She isn't _not_ one of them either, but as Ruby Lucas watches the celebration from her corner of the diner, she knows that despite their best intentions, she'll never be able to look at their faces without seeing the wolf reflected back in the darks of their eyes.

Well, it's that and something else, anyway. And Ruby isn't exactly sure what that something is. All she's sure of is that Snow comes to her for help less and less and that shouldn't hurt as much as it actually _does_.

 _"You know you can always talk to me about anything."_

But how can Ruby trouble her with something like this when her best friend in the world has faced down, yet again, the death of both her and her entire family and lived to tell the tale?  
And now, she's happy. She's beyond happy, and...and the baby's on the outside and surrounded by the unconditional warmth and care and love and light that has always clung to Snow and touched everything she's ever left behind.

Even Ruby...

And suddenly, Red looks down at the glittering bean in her hand as she's hit with an unexpected dead pang of realization.  
It isn't a pack that she wants, after all.

It's just an unconditional... _home_.

It's what Snow has in James and Emma and Henry.  
For Ruby, something beyond the too-enthusiastic assurances that they aren't afraid of her that only helps to emphasize the gaps between what she is, and what they are. Something beyond the mindless routine of keeping books and bussing tables and taking orders, dodging advances left and right because people still remember the way 'Storybrooke Ruby' used to wink and grin...

It's something she hasn't felt in a long, long time- since Peter, in fact.

But she's willing to try again.  
Because she's never admitted it to herself out loud but, now, she finally understands that everyone else has been moving on, and she has remained stuck.

So now, she needs to let the past go...

And maybe that's impossible.  
Maybe it's all just blind hope that'll end in more loneliness and heartbreak than ever.

But if even there's the tiniest chance, Ruby figures, she'll take what she can get.

* * *

III. Gold

* * *

"What's happened to you, Mulan?...The warrior who taught me never cared for gold or riches."

Merida had never been one to mince words. Or beat around the bush.  
But neither had Mulan been one to show weakness, and she is all coarse strength and reckless action now. She has to be.  
(Or else she thinks she'll crumble)

And so, she shuts her down, ignores the way the guilt rears its head at the way her friend's face crinkles, stung by the sharpness of her words.

It's an ugly thing to do, of course.  
But they'd been so alike, once: laughing at the very idea of falling in love when they had battles to fight and wars to win and kingdoms to protect, and Mulan is too ashamed to face Merida knowing that she'd been so weak.

To a pretty face and a musical voice and a surprisingly strong will that... _still_ , she's loathe to admit, makes her heart twist with care even to this day.

So instead, she sneers and scoffs to fight off the feelings and ends the conversation with a strong,  
"No more questions about me."

But as she walks away, she can feel in her heart, a lost, whispered, 'Please...'

* * *

IV. Blood

* * *

Ruby says good-bye to everything and everyone that she can before she jumps the portal.  
The guests at the diner? Naturally.  
Snow? Of course.  
Belle? Obviously.

But also the old well. Also the view from the pier. Also the old green sign that reads 'Welcome to Storybrooke'.

It seems crazy, maybe, to do that. And part of her can't help but feel that she's doing this more for her own sense of closure than anyone else's. (Because, really, will it make any difference at all here when she's gone?...)

But, still, she does it anyway. Because even though she'd spent her time here trapped in a curse, or trapped in the past, or (at a _really_ low point in her life) trapped in Granny's freezer, it's because she's been trapped so long that she wants now to leave at all.

"See ya, Storybrooke." she whispers to the town line.

The next day, she wakes and the skies are cloudy and gray.  
Maybe the town will miss her, too.

And, comforted by that, she goes about her usual business until it's finally time to open her closet, dig through all of the pleather and the polyster and the faux fur until there, in very the back of it, there it is;

An embroidered green corset, a blood-red cape, a heavy skirt...  
Laughable in their worn, humble forms and pushed to the corner like a secret she's been trying to hide.

But somehow, it's freeing now, when Ruby sheds her tight black pants and steps, instead, into the heavy rustle of homespun cotton and wool that makes her feel just a little bit more like herself.

When she throws the cape around her shoulders, she takes a moment to stand before the mirror and looks at her reflection.

There's a layer of deep blood red draping over her, as always.

But if it seemed like the terrible blood of a wolf-wound before, now, it only looks to her like the blood of a pulsing, living heart.  
A sign of life.  
A sign of pain, too.

But most importantly, a sign of healing.

* * *

V. Battle

* * *

"You cannot give up like this!"

"Why not? You have...Or is there another reason you're out here working for the highest bidder?"

Battles aren't always fought with swords.  
Sometimes, they're fought with words.  
And Mulan used to be the instructor, true, but she'd taught Merida to strike precisely, and by gods, Merida had learned.

As her friend rides off, leaving her standing at the foot of the hill all alone, Mulan clenches her hand into a fist and just barely forces down the choking cry that threatens to erupt from all of her misery.

Is this always going to be her life, she wonders. Leaving or being left?

Because all this time, she thought she'd been fighting, too, in her own way.  
Maybe not for something as glorious or good as love or family or friendship, but...fighting just to make it through. Fighting just to survive, maybe...  
And after all that she'd suffered, was that so very wrong of her?...

Mulan makes it a good mile in the direction of the tavern she came crawling out of, but the words ring over and over again in her mind.

 _'Why not? You have. Or is there another reason you're out here working for the highest bidder?'  
_ She glances down at the scrap of cloth Merida had left behind and, for the first time in months, she feels a prick of doubt.

 _'Why not? You have. Or is there another reason you're out here working for the highest bidder?...'  
_ Her footsteps slow.

 _'Why not? You have. Or is there another reason you're out here working for the highest bidder?...'  
_ Her footsteps stop.

Because if she thinks back to everything she's done for the sake of surviving, and all she feels is guilt, isn't that all the answer she needs? _  
_

And so, Mulan takes another breath and she realizes now, she has a choice to make.

But this time, her head, her heart, her honor, they all make the very same one.

* * *

VI. Magic

* * *

She sleeps in the forest, rests in the forest, wakes in the forest- in beds of pine when she can find them, with only her cloak for warmth, and now that she's here, it's just like old times...

Except, it really isn't, too.

Because now, Snow and Granny (and Snow, especially) are worlds away, living their lives, untouchable from where she is, and the world is so empty that she can go for weeks at a time without seeing anyone else.

Ruby tries to be brave about it; tries not to let the building frustration, the anguish, the misery get to her and make her regret the fact that she ever thought she was strong enough to come here, but really, the truth of it is, she's damned if she does, and damned if she doesn't.  
Either way, she's all alone.

Either way, human or wolf, she cries out at night and not a single other soul will hear her.

But then, just as she's about to lose her faith, one day, she walks through the forest and she sees it.  
A heavy colored smoke, creeping across the forest floor, curling around her ankles, and it tells her one important thing:

There's magic nearby.

She's right, of course.  
After all that's happened in Storybrooke, how could she be wrong?

And so, stepping over and across mystical, tendrils of swirling green, Ruby follows magic's trail, happy to have something, at last, that's familiar in her life.

* * *

VII. Smoke Part 1

* * *

"I need help." she gasps breathlessly, having made it just in time to wedge her boot in the door before the stooped old woman could slam it shut and lock it on her forever.

"Well, i'm terrible sorry, dear, but i'm afraid I haven't got any magic. Just lots of woodworkings. Now if you're not planning on buying, I-" the woman blathers.

Ruby huffs.

"Will you stop it already? I know you're a witch."

The woman raises a brow at that. Then, looks up through the crack in the door, interested.  
"Do you now?..." she asks.

Pleased, Ruby nods.  
"Mhm. Trust me, you're not the first run-in i've had with magic. I know how to recognize the signs." She pauses before adding, somewhat sheepishly "Plus, I kind of...saw you. Working magic in the forest."

After just another moment, the woman suddenly barks out a long, high laugh, which doesn't exactly comfort Ruby any, of course.  
Her experience has taught her that when a witch laughs, you run for your life, but now, something in her tells her to just...wait. And so, she patiently does. For a good minute, in fact, until,

"You've got a good head on your shoulders, girl." the woman says. "Now, come on. Come inside and we'll see about getting you what you need."

Elated, Ruby grins, straightens, fixes her disheveled hair, and then ducks inside after the small, old woman, shutting the door behind her.

The first thing she notices is that, yeesh, the witch really hadn't been kidding when she'd spoken of woodworkings.  
There are carvings everywhere and as she follows behind her host, she finds herself having to tread very carefully to dodge the numerous works hanging from the ceiling.

Finally, she manages to maneuver into a chair near the back, and she sits. The woman waits expectantly, hands folded on the surface of the table with a wide-eyed smile.  
At her unbreaking stare, Ruby fidgets uncomfortably first. And then, she takes a breath.

"...I'm looking for someone. Or, some _ones,_ actually. There's kind of...more than one of them. Well, hopefully there is, anyway." she says.

The witch arches a brow at her doubtfully and Ruby gives a nervous smile.

"Truth is, I don't actually know. I kind of haven't been back here in...awhile."

That seems to pique the woman's interest and her eyes glitter as she leans across the table.  
"Ah, and why might that be, hmm?"

"I just...didn't fit in back home." Ruby shrugs. "There was nobody really like me."

"I see. And when you say that, you mean...?" the witch prompts her.  
There's a special twinkle in her eye, a knowing one, that makes Ruby feel like suddenly, she has no secrets.  
It's not a feeling she particularly likes, however, and so, she rushes to cover herself with,  
"I don't- I'm not sure."

For a long while, the woman says nothing.  
But bit by little bit, her smile begins to fade, and, afraid and uncertain, Ruby only swallows a hard lump in her throat and waits.

Finally, the woman shakes her head with a sigh.  
"I'm sorry dear, but I can'na help you. All magic comes with a price. And if you can't even afford to be honest, you can't afford to pay it."

She makes to get up but, suddenly desperate, watching all hope, all possibility fading before her very eyes, Ruby shouts,  
"No, wait!"

The woman doesn't stop, just continues hobbling for the door and so, Ruby dashes forward, cutting off the only open path and knocking over a few carvings in the process.

"I can pay it. I promise you I can." Ruby pleads.

Wordlessly, the woman raises a brow, one hand at her hip.

So she's a 'show, don't tell' type of person.  
Okay. Ruby can do that.

"See, I...I used to think I wanted to find my pack because i'm...well, i'm a werewolf." Ruby continues. "And then I used to think I wanted to move on or to forget or to be needed, and I do. I do want that, but now...I think, more than even that, I just...want..."  
She trails off, stalling by swallowing nervously as if naming it out loud will somehow jinx it and keep it out of her reach forever.

"You want?..." the witch prompts her.  
This time, there's no doubt, no over eagerness, no nerve-wracking suspicion in her eyes.

And so, Ruby's fingers clench into a fist and she wills herself to just do it.

"I want," she says evenly. "to find the place where I belong."

And at that, the woman finally relaxes into a smile and she takes Ruby's hand in hers.

"Now, that there I can do." she promises.

She turns Ruby's palm up, and places in it, curiously enough, a potion that is already prepared, already bottled, already stoppered, and sitting among many others on the shelf right by the door and for a moment, Ruby pauses.

"...Did you know I would tell you?" she questions, warily.

But the witch merely smiles and holds out her hand.  
"If you don't want it, i'll take it back." she sings.

"No! No...I'll...I-...Thank you." Ruby says.

She holds it up between trembling fingers.

This is magic, right?  
It has to work. Even for someone like her.

(Yet, somewhere in her heart, there's still a doubt.)

Nevertheless, she opens the bottle, brings the shimmering swirling gold right up to her lips, and before she can second guess herself, she throws all of it back.

For some reason, Ruby had expected it to burn the whole way down her throat. But instead, it flows smooth and warm and gentle. Pleasant, like a warm bath on a cold day, and it tastes faintly of flowers...

But she doesn't have time to register what kind because suddenly-

 _poof_!

There's a rising swirl of green all around her. Her body shrinks, it contracts, her mind's confused, her eyesight's blurry and then-

"Oh, would you look at that! A wolf! I just love this one. You can ne'r quite guess what it will do...Now i'll let you go after a spell, but for now, I think you're best right here, serving as my guard. You do owe me payment after all, and besides, I sense trouble..."

* * *

V. Smoke Part 2

* * *

The stranger, the warrior, with the beautifully intricate armor and the impressive, sharpened blade- one swift lunge from the wolf, and she's already thrown on her back.

And gods, not again.  
Ruby doesn't want to kill, she doesn't want to hurt, she doesn't want to be a monster, but- but...she can't not.

It's the wolf's blood in her.  
No...  
It's the fear.

Because no matter what Ruby does, in this form, it looks hostile and there's no chance that a warrior, of all people, won't kill her unless Ruby hurts her first.  
It'll be another bloodbath; another name to add to the list of her victims.  
But there's nothing she can do.

And so, snarling, Ruby closes in, having to watch her own horrible reflection in the dark of this warrior's eyes as her jaw widens and her teeth gleam white.  
For a second, she thinks she sees something other than fear in this woman's face which makes it only all the worse that she has to die.

Ruby raises five sharp claws.

But then, something happens that is...not what Ruby expects.

A breatheless, "You just need a little help remembering who you are..."

And then there's a clang, and then a _poof!  
_ And then...

Ruby's quite unexpectedly sprawled all over the only person who's faced down the wolf first, and the woman, herself, last.

For a brief moment, her nose is practically pressed into the crook of this stranger's neck and she catches the brief warmth of all the scents she's missed (of the forest and smoke and sweat; of a flower she doesn't the name of; of smells so incredibly human and she's missed it so much) before she remembers herself.  
Hurriedly, she pulls back from the woman she's veritably straddling and waits for her to say something.

But the woman in the armor just blinks, leaning up on her elbow as she continues to stare, and Ruby can't exactly read her gaze, but she gathers it can't be all that bad, seeing a wolf and getting her instead...Can it?

When this warrior's so silent, Ruby isn't sure.  
Either way...

"Er, sorry about that." she says, deciding to speak first. "My name's Ruby. My friends call me Red."

She flashes a charming smile.

The beautiful warrior manages a blink in return.

* * *

VI. Capes

* * *

Walking together, they make a pretty picture, Ruby notices.

The woman's got a cape just like her, only darker. A type of red that's a bit warmer. It reads serious. Solemn.

Ruby can't help but stare: she's been so lonely for so long and her, this...this warrior, she's strong and warm, despite the occasional aloofness, and she looks at Ruby the same way that, well, anyone ever looks at anyone.

Not exactly the thing of storybook romances or famous friendships, but for her, that's all she's ever wanted.  
And she doesn't bring up the wolf thing again.

In fact, the warrior's so lost in her own thoughts, it's a good hour before she remembers to be polite and make the customary small-talk that anyone else in this situation would have done since the beginning.

Still, Ruby smiles as she matches her pace, appreciatively taking in the black tendrils of hair that fall down her smooth face as she answers and asks question after question.

As it so happens, 'this warrior' turns out to be Mulan.  
The same Mulan that Snow and Emma had told her about.

She fits the description anyway, Ruby thinks to herself with a laugh, and now that she knows that she has something else that ties her to home, it seems like things will go better.

But then, "...Philip and Aurora?" Mulan says.

"Mary Margaret, and Emma. But I know Philip and Aurora." Ruby says, happily trudging through the tall grass beside her. "I was in the other land with them. Last I saw they were doing great, about to have a child."

Mulan falls into silence then.  
But it's a different silence than before.

This one hangs heavy with heartbreak and, suddenly worried she has already marred her first friendship in the forest, Ruby backtracks.  
"Is everything okay? Did I say something?" she asks.

Mulan quickly shakes her head.

But Ruby knows pain when she sees it.  
She also knows, however, that Mulan clearly doesn't want to talk about it.

And so the whole rest of the way, Ruby silently wonders how she could ever find happiness, if even someone as good and honorable as the warrior beside her couldn't.

* * *

VII. Names & Titles

* * *

The first things that crosses Mulan's mind is that with Ruby at her side, she could make a killing. The both of them could, together.  
Ancestors only knew what some people would pay to have both the hero of China and a werewolf on their side.

But then, she looks at Merida, laughing a few steps ahead at a story Ruby's just told and it is only then that she remembers, she's chosen not to do that anymore.

Well, no matter.  
Even aside from that, it's true they make a formidable team and, more surprisingly, they work together with such ease, that for the first time, Mulan feels completely comfortable trusting the reigns to someone else for once.

That doesn't happen often.

It certainly wasn't like this with Aurora.

Aurora...

Mulan's heart grips in pain at the name.  
But just as she's starting to get lost in recounting her mistakes,

Ruby stops walking, turns around, and waits.

Mulan doesn't understand why until she catches up.

Because when she does, Ruby smiles and only then continues her own easy stroll across the hills and Mulan hasn't seen such a simple human kindness in a very long, long time.

Usually, it's her who does the waiting.

"We're nearby." she hears Ruby promise Merida. "We're gonna find him. Soon."

Her tone is kind, even to a perfect stranger.  
Which makes sense.

She _is_ kind. She'd chosen to aid the both of them with nothing in it for herself, after all.

And there's something in that which Mulan can't help but recognize in the distant memories of who she used to be:  
A need to do good.  
A need to be...honorable.

And so, after that, her thoughts are mostly occupied with a very new name, altogether.

* * *

VIII. Satisfied Customers

* * *

There's a nervous energy in the air.  
And up until now, it's been one nonstop adventure of searching and tracking and fighting and danger, but now that's all over and the only thing left is to face down the terrible, evil witch.

The terrible, evil witch who...as it turns out, might not be so terrible or evil after all.

"You're magic's never very direct, is it?" Merida's mother sighs from the front of the room.

"It gets the job done." the witch laughs.

And after she says it, Ruby could swear that just for a moment, the witch turns and winks directly at her in the crowd.

Ruby is speechless, at first.  
And...she doesn't believe it.

But suddenly, there's a shifting from beside her and she's all at once ten times more aware of the weight of a small, but still protective hand resting on her arm.

The words echo in her head against her will: _  
'I want to find the place where I belong.'_

Surely, that couldn't mean...?

Ruby glances at the poised, calm figure to her right; at the warrior- the one who is so obliviously watching the front of the room like everybody else, with a deep crease between her brows in a concentrated expression that is somehow so like her and, memorizing the details of that good, strong expression, Ruby lets herself wonder...

But then, Mulan catches her staring.  
And noting Ruby's pensive mood, suddenly, that crease smooths out and her eyes widen into a look so concerned for _her_ that Ruby has to work to smother the giggle that bubbles from an overflowing heart.

An overflowing hear that's no never been more certain of anything in her life.

And so, seconds later when Mulan whispers to her, "What is it? What's wrong?",  
Ruby answers with a radiant smile.

"Nothing." she promises. "Absolutely...nothing."

She faces forward, taking a deep breath of clean, fresh air that she never knew could feel so wonderful in the dusty dead spaces of her lungs.  
And then, a brand new woman, Ruby 'Red' Lucas, gives Mulan's hand a small squeeze and she vows to thank the witch later.

* * *

VIV. Hope

* * *

It's done.  
The people are happy.  
The kingdom is safe.

And now, the three woman, fates all tied together by red somehow- her cape, her hair, her skirt, all stand around the resting place of a once-great king and they say their thank-yous and goodbyes.

Only, it doesn't really feel like a goodbye at all.  
It only feels like a triumph.

Because the thing is, each and every one of them have finally won their hard-fought victory over something.  
Merida with her kingdom, of course.  
Ruby, with her loneliness.  
And Mulan?

Well...Ruby isn't exactly sure about that one, to be honest.

But even so, she can sense it.  
She can feel the change in even the way the warrior walks, her steps treading so much softer on the ground than before.

She hopes it's because Mulan's happier...  
(She hopes it's because of her.)

But...she isn't sure.

But then, when this happens, she is:

"I...was trying to get over a broken heart." Mulan admits. And the longer she talks with that smile that's just one thin line away from sadness, the more Ruby's heart falls in a way that sends her deeper and deeper into dull, aching pain until she realizes it will take more than a few days for Mulan to dust off the sadness for good.

So the new question is, what does she do about it?...

"...You know, I may not be the best person to ask for dating advice," she finds herself saying before she can stop herself.

Mulan and Merida give her curious looks then, and Ruby pauses, hesitant, under the sudden attention. Still, she pushes through.

"I...kind of ate the only boyfriend i've ever had-"  
"Yes. I think that disqualifies you..." Mulan nods immediately.  
"But," Ruby continues, with a smile, "maybe I can help. Come with me."

She can see the surprise work its way across Mulan's face.  
And for a long, silent moment, Ruby begins to wonder if maybe she's misread the signs.  
But if she looks very closely, there's something else there, edging its way in besides the shock.  
It's hope.

Still,  
"...Searching for werewolves?" Mulan says, doubtfully.

"Better than wallowing in self-pity." Ruby returns.

"I don't wallow." Mulan protests.

There's a scoff then and, as Mulan shoots Merida a look, Ruby laughs.

It's perhaps the first time she's ever really heard it- clear, bright but so soft and inviting, and Mulan can't help but grow uneasy with the way her stomach flips at the pleasant sound.

"Look, maybe helping someone out with their path will help you with yours." Ruby says.

Mulan wants to.

She does, but...  
Her honor.  
She's found it again and she won't let it be lost. Besides, she gets the feeling Ruby doesn't yet truly understand who she is. _What_ she is...  
Who-...who she loves.  
(Because it isn't people like Philip.)

And she absolutely cannot let _that_ happen again.

She can't.  
She won't.  
This time, she-

"Okay." Mulan says.

Well, _that_ wasn't part of the plan.

But when she sees Ruby's green eyes brighten under the golden light of the sun, suddenly, all else is forgotten.

She smiles, and Ruby smiles back.

And then, she lets herself be led down the hill, and under a bright blue sky, not unlike the color of a lost love's eyes, Ruby slows her pace and Mulan speeds hers up and their steps fall perfetly in-sync as they start off, surrounded by the precious gleam of red and black and gold and green.

* * *

 _fin~_


End file.
